The Multidimensional Model And Depth Of English Word Meaning Acquisition

There is no doubt that the acquisition of words plays the core role in the entire process of second language acquisition (SLA). Recently the researches on word acquisition of second language, especially on depth of word knowledge, are becoming broader and more meticulous. There does exist a sequence in the acquisition of words. The sequence does not only exist in the whole word acquisition system but also in acquisition course of interior meaning of an individual word.This paper takes the Multidimensional Model as its starting point and conducts an empirical study. By delivering a vocabulary questionnaire to 88 non-English major college students from grade 1 to 4, the author collects the research data. The paper aims at describing the depth acquisition of word meaning and tries to find out the development sequence of English learners in China when they are learning an individual word. The data is analyzed by software SPSS17.0.The research results are listed below: (1) Generally speaking, high-grade learners develop at greater breath and depth of English words'meaning acquisition than the low-grade learners; learners'acquisition of semantic items of a word will become more plentiful with their grade growing. (2) The acquisition level on depth of word meaning develops with grade growing, but its speed varies from grade to grade and the gap deepens gradually. (3) There does exist a sequence in acquisition process of the interior meaning of an individual word. This reflects the cognitive development model of English learners in China: on one hand, the sequence will not change due to the disturbance of outside factors; on the other hand, the sequence will undergo a little change according to individual difference but will not transcend the restriction of cognitive model.The results of this research reflect the acquisition construction process and cognitive development model of English learners in China which will forecast their word acquisition process and help them learn English vocabulary more efficiently. It is hopeful that this research will provide evidence for classroom vocabulary teaching and English learners'self-study of vocabulary. Thus the objective factors are combined with learners'cognitive properly and good learning effects will be achieved.